March 27, 2016
Dan Balz ignored more than a decade of Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s writing and work in politics in an analysis that contrasts Ryan’s “conservative, problem-solving party” with “a Cruz-style radical anti-government party content with blowing things up as they now stand.” If Balz had paid any attention to the budgets that Paul Ryan eagerly touted as head of the House Budget Committee he would know that there is no one who has a better claim to being “anti-government” and “blowing things up as they now stand” than Mr. Ryan.
Ryan’s budgets essentially proposed eliminating everything the government does except for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the military. The Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the his budget, which Ryan directed, showed that it would reduce all discretionary spending, plus non-Medicare and Medicaid entitlements to just 3.5 percent of GDP by 2050. This is roughly the current size of the military budget, which Ryan has indicated he wants to increase.
This means the Ryan budget called for eliminating everything else the government does, such as build and maintain infrastructure, monitor food and drug safety, support basic research in health care and other areas, protect the environment, and support early childhood education and nutrition. If eliminating just about the entire government is not “radical anti-government” it is hard to know what would be.
Balz owes Speaker Ryan an apology.
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